Yearly Archives: 2019

Sydney Water restrictions

Sydney November 29th 2019

The continuing drought is having an effect on all Australians. The dry conditions have added bushfires to that list, and the forecast is for a hot summer.

Here in greater Sydney we sometimes forget about our country cousins, the farmers that produce most of our food supplies, and how the lack of rainfall is affecting them. But that is about to change.

Sydney dam levels have dropped below 46% capacity, and with our growing population, we’ve got to slow down on our water usage. Thankfully we have a desalination plant to help out. It may add a nominal charge to our water bills, but I believe that’s a small price to pay.

Sydney Water has announced that from Tuesday, December 10th 2019 greater Sydney will move to Level 2 water restrictions. For householders, it means there will be a few more rules about how and when we can water our gardens, wash our cars and generally use water around our homes.

We can all save water!

Our business has to apply for a water use exemption. The exemption doesn’t mean we can waste water. It means being more thoughtful about how to use it.

Why have a Drainoscopy?

Today our post is simple.

A client from Bronte called. Since Christmas they’d had 3 blocked drains causing the downstairs toilet to overflow. Yuck!

The plumber they had been using didn’t have a drain camera and it was suggested that the pipes were broken.

We were able to clear the blockage quickly, then, give the pipes a Drainoscopy. That’s Lone Drainer speak for “put a specialised drain camera in the pipes and see what is really going on.”

The pipe was full of tree roots. That’s all!

We cut out the roots and had another look.

A simple Vaporooter treatment will keep the roots away. With a Guarantee!

Yes, the pipes are old clay pipes. You can see where the roots have been cut out. But, they work and will for some time to come.

The best way to find out is to see it for yourself.

How to Change a Tap Washer

Everyone should know how to change a tap washer!  Not everyone wants to, but its a handy skill to have. Read More

More rain please


The rain has kept emergency plumbers on their toes.

If you need help with a flooding emergency, please call us.

Meanwhile, blow the rain to the west.
Our country cousins need it!

Storms bring blocked drains

The well-needed rain that arrived in Sydney over the last few days has created many blocked drains and grates that can easily be fixed.

Take the opportunity in between showers to check any pits or drains around your home that may be blocked by leaf debris or dirt. Put on your gardening or washing up gloves to clean them out; it may save you from some unexpected flooding.

The blocked drain shown here was covered by leaves and gum nuts blown off in the storm. It wasn’t able to cope with the deluge of water that caused the garage to flood.

If your roof gutters are full and overflowing, it may be leaf debris and twigs or even a tennis ball from the summer back yard cricket series blocking the gutter outlets.
If you choose to put a ladder up to the roof gutters to have a look, please be very careful.
Take care climbing on your roof.
It may be very slippery!

The Lone Drainer’s Recipe #3

The Lone Drainer’s Mushroom Sauce for Pasta

This doubles as a fabulous addition, as a sauce for steak the next night, and takes care of two of the five vegetables per day that you are meant to eat.

This recipe is an example of The Hardworking Plumber’s Secret Timesaving Tip: Cook It Once, Use It Twice, (tastes sensational both times!).

This recipe is so simple that it is hardly a recipe; but it’s impressive to eat nonetheless and made in a matter of minutes. I put this on the stove, on a low heat, go have a shower, (yeah, yeah, I know its dangerous, but The Lone Drainer and his Team are tired after a hard day on the tools and a shower while dinner cooks saves precious minutes which means we get to eat earlier).

(Ed: gotta give it to Dave Conroy, always thinking, thinking…).

And credit where credit is due, this recipe was pretty well invented by Leigh, the best gasfitter in Sydney’s east, then developed by me, whom some experts would say is the best and most modest plumber in the Eastern suburbs….

INGREDIENTS:
½ a box of already cut up mushrooms, the kind you buy at the supermarket
Left over white wine
Garlic (buy the bags of single clove garlic from Harris Farm Markets as they take less time to cut and peel- see pic)
Three tablespoons of cream
A tablespoon of parsley – if you have it
A decent glug, glug, glug of olive oil, i.e. three big tablespoons if you want to be accurate
A bag of salad mix

METHOD
Chop up the garlic any old how. Small is good.
In a largish frypan, heat the olive oil on a medium heat, add the garlic, fry until it smells good but not brown, tip in the half box of mushrooms, stir, turn heat down, add a cup of white wine, and half a cup of water or stock, (the mushrooms should be more or less covered with liquid), stir and let stew while you take a shower or set the table. Put a big pot of salted water on low heat, (again the amount of salt doesn’t really matter, but if you like precision, a tablespoon will do).

Okay, all cleaned up now, turn the heat up under the pasta water till its boiling, add the pasta.

Throw some of the salad leaves into a bowl and dress with a tablespoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of vinegar. Put on the table. This is your salad to go with the pasta.

Add three tablespoons of cream to your mushrooms and stir. Turn off the heat under them but leave in pan on stove.

Once the pasta is cooked, (it should still have a bit of bite to it as it will go on cooking in the sauce) drain it, put in a largish bowl and add the mushroom sauce to it. Stir and eat. Delicious!

Here is a pic of the pasta in the bowl, ready to eat: (note the inspection outlet in the background – we plumbers are always experimenting with the latest technology)

Next week, we’ll talk about the Plumbers’ pantry cupboard and what you need to keep in it in order to be able to make a delicious dinner in ten minutes flat every night.

Until then,

Read our blog. Cook our food. Admire our plumbing.

The Lone Drainer’s Recipe #2

I scream, you scream, we’ll all scream for The Lone Drainer’s Passionfruit Ice Cream.

I, Dave Conroy, the master of the fast but excellent tasting recipe, have developed a speedy, easy, no-equipment-necessary recipe for fantastic ice cream. OK, it’s not super healthy, but it is home made, you know every single good ingredient (3) that’s in it because you put them there and its 100% natural.

Here is the recipe:

Go to the supermarket on the way home from work.
Buy 1 can of condensed milk and 1 carton of cream and 6 passionfruit.
Stir the cream and condensed milk together in a saucepan over a low heat.
Add the insides of the 6 passionfruit and let it sit off the heat while you open a beer, watch the news, have a shower or water the garden.

Then, (and this is the good bit) raid the grog cupboard, find some vodka. Any other liquor will do, but vodka is good because it has no flavor or colour. Gin will work just as well. Anything that won’t mask the flavor of the passionfruit. Add a good slug, around two tablespoons. Stir. Put the lot in a plastic container and stick it in the freezer. It’ll be ready in about an hour.

This wondrous creation has been tried and tested in the The Lone Drainer’s Test Kitchen many times. There is science at the back of it too. The alcohol in the vodka stops the ice cream forming crystals, which make for an unpleasant texture. Alcohol just won’t freeze in a normal domestic freezer. So it keeps the ice cream creamy. Ipso facto, you don’t have to do all that churning with machines and gadgets and what not.

We’ve tried it with whisky and two espresso coffees instead of the passionfruit and that came out tops too. It’s just not a fussy recipe. But it won’t work without the grog. Trust me. I’m a plumber. And I don’t like to waste good alcohol.

Here is a picture of two thirds of my last batch of passionfruit ice cream. I did want to photograph it BEFORE eating it, but just couldn’t resist. Evidence of how good it is.

Read our blog. Cook my food. Admire our plumbing.

The Lone Drainer Recipe collection

It’s the second month of the New Year and we’re all still full of good intentions.

I, The Lone Drainer, the fastest plumber in the Eastern suburbs, hereby announce my New Years Resolution: I will become a better cook. I am committing in print in the hope that my public announcement will help me stick to the program.

Here’s how it will work:

Every week, I will publish a new recipe, fully tried and tested in The Lone Drainer Coogee kitchen and stomach. I’m aiming for easy, fast and not too many ingredients. And something that won’t make me fat. I want to be a fit, healthy fifty year old. (Ed: who are you kidding Dave? Rumour has it you’re closer to sixty already!)

It won’t always be a recipe, sometimes it will just be a meal idea, suitable for a man to make. (OK, sexist, I know. I’ll rephrase that. What I mean is suitable for me, a mere male without a lot of cooking skills, but certainly a man who likes to eat well).

Here is No 1 Recipe, a sample of my ‘easy-after-a-hard–days-work–plumbing meal’ idea:

Go to the supermarket.

Buy a bag of mixed salad leaves, a bottle of bread and butter pickles, and a piece of salmon.

Put two potatoes and two carrots on to boil. (Good plumbers need carbs. We work hard and burn a lot of energy).

Spread the salad leaves on a plate. Pour a tablespoon of olive oil on the leaves. (Uncooked olive oil is good for keeping cholesterol down).

BBQ the salmon. Or cook it in a heavy cast iron frypan. Six and two minutes on a gas stove.

Put the salmon on top of the leaves. Put the now cooked potatoes and carrots next to the salmon on the plate . Add a couple of dill pickles. There is dinner. Four vegetables, fish for protein and a few carbs for energy. Twenty minutes tops.

Read our blog. Cook my food. Admire our plumbing.

Never a cross word…


HOW CLEVER ARE YOU? WIN A PRIZE TODAY! (Yes! A prize from Dave, The Lone Drainer!)

The first person to email us (info@thelonedrainerandpronto.com.au) a photo of the correctly completed crossword (click on the link on the line below), wins a box of the excellent and bio friendly “Who Gives A Crap” toilet paper.

crossword

Inventor rolls out 100 years

Milestones come and go; however, it shouldn’t pass without notice that January 23rd 2019 is the centenary of application No.9902/19 with the Commonwealth of Australia’s patent office of the “serving apparatus for toilet paper” also known as the toilet paper roll holder.

The invention dispenses a product most of us use daily.

Whether your favourite toilet roll is textured or patterned, two or four-ply, premium or pulped, waxed or lotioned, the standard sized roll or the jumbo or jumbo junior, whether you roll over or under, please take a moment to contemplate the genius of Clarence Edward Anable of Sacramento, California.

Mr Anable’s revolutionary invention has, without doubt, improved the sanitary status of the world.